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Wet Basement Advice Please?

H

homer

Well-known member
Aug 18, 2001
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Help!

We've lived in our house for 7 years now, and never had a problem. Recently we had a torrential rain that lasted pretty much the whole day, and we just noticed the floor in the basement is wet. Not flooded by any means, but the carpet (I know, shouldn't have carpet in the basement, but it came with the house) is wet in one half the floor. I think the problem might be the water collected on one side of the house, so I'm going to build up the grade, and move the downspout farther away from the house. Hopefully it was a one time thing, but it got me thinking about the basement. It's an old house, and been good so far. I've got the heaters and de-humidifier drying it out now. Will there be any issues about mold? And if I remove the carpet, what's the best thing to replace it with? Even though I'm fairly confident it was a one time event, what type of floor covering would be best? And what type of cost would I be looking at (floor might be 500-600sq feet)? Money is definitely and issue for us right now.

Thanks in advance for all your honest and helpful advice!!
 
On a Side Note?

While I have this thread, can anyone recommend an honest/reliable handyperson to do some general not too difficult renovations (for someone other than me!) in the Durham region? Need to do some minor bathroom renovation ie. replace the shower/tub tile, and flooring etc. Thanks once again!

Homer
 
Same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I called "Wet Basements" to look at it. They suggested digging a trench in the concrete floor so that any water coming through the wall would be wisked away in the largely invisable tench to the floor drain. They jackhammer the floor to dig the trench, then fix it up so you see only a small metal lip running flush with the wall. They quoted me $2k to do it. So many basements are flooding this summer in T.O. due to all this rain we're been getting that they are booked two months ahead for work. They told me late September was the earliest. Maybe this is global warming in our backyard. No municipal water the lawn bans this year I guess.
 
Mold can be a problem but if you removed the carpet you should be o.k. Check any drywall around the wet area to see if it was damaged , take a screw driver and press it lightly into the drywall, it should not go through with light pressure. If it does move up the wall a couple of inches at a time and untill you get to the solid park. All the damaged drywall should be removed and replaced. Mold can grow on the paper backing of the drywall.

Is there a floor drain in the area that the damage occured. If so quite frequently the water came up through the floor drain from the storm sewer. If that was the case call the municipality and explain the situation to them they will check the storm sewer for blockages.

Building up the grade and ensuring positive drainage ie., away from the foundation will solve most leaks that are not a result of damaged foundation walls. The water can seep in through the rod holes if they were not properly plugged( more frequent than you would think).

Get a large fan going in the wet area to help dry out the basement it will work better tha the heaters and dehumidifiers, you canrent one from Stephensons if nessicary.

Any type of flooring will work in the basement , the desision will be based on what you use the area for.

Give some thought to a subfloor , it raises the flooring off the concrete and keeps you feet warmer. It works with anything but ceramic/porceline tiles.

If you have any other questions P.M. me
 
alexmst said:
Same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I called "Wet Basements" to look at it. They suggested digging a trench in the concrete floor so that any water coming through the wall would be wisked away in the largely invisable tench to the floor drain. They jackhammer the floor to dig the trench, then fix it up so you see only a small metal lip running flush with the wall. They quoted me $2k to do it. So many basements are flooding this summer in T.O. due to all this rain we're been getting that they are booked two months ahead for work. They told me late September was the earliest. Maybe this is global warming in our backyard. No municipal water the lawn bans this year I guess.
Click to expand...

2 grand is a good price. If it includes a sump.
 
https://terb.cc/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=198113

I started a thread on this a few weeks back. After getting a few quotes in the $5k - $10k range, I said to hell with it and started working on it myself. I had referred to the `Uncle Elmer` method of diverting the water away from the house. Well, I started the project this week and am still working on it. The dam rain we have had all week is causing a delay to the completion.

Anyways, for those who were following and responding to the thread, here is what I have done:

-I dug a trench about 3-4 feet out from my wall, roughly a foot deep. I am concentrating on the back and part of one side, where the water is getting in.
I am filling the trench with 3/4 gravel, I picked up a few bags to get a start but will receive a big load tomorrow for the rest of the job.

-The soil that I took from the trench was piled up against the wall, several inches higher than it was previously. I packed it very tight and on an incline, then laid down sections of tar paper all along the length of the back wall, over top of the soil. I then covered the tar paper with another thin layer of soil packed down tight.

- Now the water is moved away from the house into the drain.

With all that heavy rain we had last night, I bet it rained steady and very hard for over an hour in Hamilton, I had mopped up only a trickle of water from my bad corner that equated to roughly 1" deep inside my bucket. So I went from 12-15 full buckets of water per storm last Saturday (we had 3-4 pass through) to 1" of water total in a bucket. I still have a ways to go on the job and there is still quite a large section that is unprotected, so hopefully once I am finished, I won`t have any more water.

I also cleaned out all my eavestroughing and they were clogged with all kinds of crap. It is a job I have neglected for some time, obviously, so that was adding to my problem as well. I could see water falling over the roof sometimes like it was Niagara Falls.

So, it may seem a little primitive, as compared to all the other suggestions and professional advice I was provided with (and i thank everyone for their input), however, cost was an issue for me so I did what I had to do for now.

When I came home today, after we had another 2 hour storm pass through, my basement was as dry as a bone. Chalk one up to ole Uncle Elmer. :p
 
Start of by reading some of the articles here

http://www.doityourself.com/scat/waterproofing
or here
http://index.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/cgi-bin...sement+waterproofing&scope=www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

There are many good suggestion listed above. but you have to remember that your walls are most likely the problem they are not waterproofed properly.

Waterproofing is the best solution, also very pricey I charge 2 G's a wall, depending on the length of the wall of course. Water drainage is the second best solution, raise the ground level and divert it away from the house, a concrete walkway is better, or frame a deck in the area that you think the water is getting into the house and slope the deck away from the house. You can use a garden hose to find out which area is the problem.

Think about this....

Once the ground or earth around you basement walls are saturated with so much water in so little time, pressure builds and builds, the ground can absorb water at a curtain rate and that rate is slow. Now with that much water pressure, water forces itself through any and all holes, no matter how big or small the holes are. Think of it this way one gallon of water is 10 pounds so if you have 100 gallons of water that's 1000 pounds. Thats a lot of pressure. Wouldn't you say so?

It could be your drain backing up but I doubt it, you haven't had any problems up untill now. Call the city they'll come out and plunge your main stack (for free) just tell them the problem is on their side, you had a plumber check it out, the plumber said so. ;)

I think it's your walls the water pressure was so great that the water had no place to go but through your walls.

landscaper has some very good points about the drywall and the mold... I agree... and the sub-floor recommendation.... I agree..

But if cash is your problem the cheap peel and slick floor tiles will work, just use a second adhesive on the back of the tile to prevent lift age, like LePage Glue.

I am a contractor, I've built over a 100 home so I know my shit.

Pm me if you got any more questions.

Cheers
DOB
 
Actually, calculating the pressure of water on the wall is a little more complicated than that.

Pressure = gamma X h

Where gamma is the unit weight of water

and h = height

For example, the density of water is 1000 kg/m3. g = 9.81 m/s2

Therefore, the unit weight of water is 9.81 KiloNewton/m3

Say you have 2 metres of water.

Pressure = 9.81 KN/m3 x 2 m = 19.6 KN/m2 or 19.6 Kilopascals.

To put that into imperial for you, that's about 400 pounds / ft2, or about 3 psi.

Now when you have soil, that's far more complex because different kinds of soils exert different kinds of lateral pressures on a wall. For example, you can have a well consolidated soil and the lateral pressure is much less than say sand.

When you have a saturated soil, you have the weight of the water PLUS the horizontal component of the weight of the soil acting on a wall. Now, if you're beside a drive way, where you have the live load of say a car, well, you can add that to the equation as well.

In order to calculate the lateral pressure correctly on a wall with a saturated soil, you need to do a soils analysis to determine what type of soil you're dealing with and its physical properties.
 
For Durham region, Crawford and Sons are the best in the business for basement repair....whether you need an epoxy injection if there is a leaking crack in the foundation or a dig down...
 
Thanks

Thanks for the good advice and suggestions. I think I'm going to try the grade change, and moving the downspout first. This is the only time it's happened, and it was a huge rainstorm amongst many smaller rains, so I'm hoping this was a fluke event. If it happens again, then I'll have to take more drastic measures.

Thanks
 
As I work in a Hospital where we constantly deal with mold in walls and such I recomend you do the following.

make sure everything is really dry with fans and dehumifiers...also vent the house really well by opening a basement window and open a window on the top floor and install a fan in the top window.....pull moisture out of the basemnt.

The pull off base board around the area that was wet.....make sure the drywall is 1/2 inch off the floor and not sitting tight against the floor. check to see if there are water marks on the drywall anywhere.....where you see water marks cut open the drywall to see if the wood or drywall is at all damp or has been damp.

Check for black stains or black marks that can be smudged with your finger...dust lie black stuff...and please wear a good dust mask when doing this.
If you find and thing that worries yo....mix 1 part bleach with 3 parts water and mist the areas of concern....this will kill and help prevent future growth.

Mold grows on wood....drywall paper......also carpet...so do not be affraid to pull up the carpet to look under it.
 
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